Former F1 driver Ivan Capelli would impose a BAN on Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton if he were Mercedes at the midway point of the season.
Hamilton kicks off his final year with Mercedes this weekend at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
It's set to be a strange experience for both Hamilton and Mercedes, with both aware the former is leaving to join rivals Ferrari in 2025.
Hamilton and Toto Wolff have both promised it will be business as usual this season with hopes of ending Red Bull's era of dominance.
But Capelli believes there will come a point of the campaign where Mercedes will grow cautious of what Hamilton has access to as they switch their attention to their 2025 car.
Lewis Hamilton will embark on a farewell year with Mercedes
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The halfway mark of the season is usually when teams begin to ramp up their focus on the next campaign.
And Capelli, who achieved three podiums in F1, feels Mercedes won't want to risk letting Hamilton have access to sensitive information he can pass back to Ferrari.
"If I were Mercedes, I would ban him from taking the phone into the garage from mid-season to be on the safe side," he said.
"The closer they get to the end of the working relationship, the less Mercedes will give information to Hamilton.
"Still, Hamilton himself will certainly give everything all season."
Capelli also believes the move will rejuvenate Ferrari and make them a more attractive proposition for some of the sport's best engineers.
He added: "He has understood what Ferrari means.
"He will come with new energy.
"He will bring experience, enthusiasm, and perhaps some engineers, perhaps with some of them who never believed Ferrari would change.
Lewis Hamilton will replace Carlos Sainz at Ferrari
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"Perhaps also an engineer whose name begins with an N [Adrian Newey]."
Mercedes head into the season-opening race in Bahrain hoping to close the gap to Red Bull after another disappointing campaign in 2023.
But Hamilton has no doubt that he will be leaving a team capable of returning to their former glory with or without him.
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Lewis Hamilton wants to finish strong with Mercedes
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"I know this team is going to win another championship and I will be proud to know I have been a part of it because a lot of the things we have put in place in terms of how much more diverse our team is, the processes that we go through, I will in a long haul always be a part of that process and that development the team has gone through," he said.
"But I'm really looking forward to that new challenge.
"Lots of different emotions that you will experience through that challenge, but it's one I'm really excited about."
